ODM accuses Jubilee of riding on the Kibaki and Raila projects

The Orange Democratic Movement is set to launch an assessment report on the Jubilee government’s performance in the last one year, in which it claims the governing coalition is on a campaign of disinformation and lies about its record.

The report Still Running on Lies claims the Jubilee coalition has abandoned Vision 2030 in some places where it is finding it hard to perform while claiming credit for some of the blueprint’s flagship projects that were initiated by the grand coalition government.

Jubilee is also accused of keeping silent over what it promised but has been unable to deliver, according to the report that the party says is based on scrutiny of government’s public documents.

Set to be launched on Tuesday, the report contradicts President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto’s stand that the ruling coalition – which has been faced with myriad problems ranging from terrorism, fire at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the high cost of living – is on the right track.

Mr Ruto this week insisted that the coalition was doing well, was set to meet its campaign promises and that it should be voted out in next General Election if it does not deliver.

Free lap tops for Standard One pupils in public schools, reducing corruption and cutting the cost of living, especially the price of maize flour and power, are some of the Jubilee coalition’s promises that have remained a pipe dream.

The coalition has further been in the spotlight over appointments to key public institutions that have appeared to favour members of two communities and disregarded regional and gender balance.

ODM’s report accuses the government of implementing some of the projects contained in the Jubilee manifesto at “greatly exaggerated cost”.

Last week, acting ODM leader Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o announced that the party will address the country later this week on the weakening of Kenya’s international standing under Jubilee.

The Kisumu senator yesterday confirmed that the plan is on and a team of experts is putting final touches to “our findings particularly on how Jubilee is undermining the country’s global standing”.

Asked if the report was of ill-motive and only aimed at undermining the government and spoiling Jubilee’s image, Prof Nyong’o said:

“This is not a witch hunt. It is part of our duty to keep the government in check and hold it accountable. As a party, we are particularly worried about the diplomatic mess we are finding ourselves in. In the increasingly globalised world, no nation can be an island and what we get from the community of nations depends on how we conduct ourselves on the global stage. That is why this is critical to us and to the country.”

Prof Nyong’o, who has been acting as party leader from last month when former Prime Minister Raila Odinga went the to United States for a month said the party engaged experts because it felt Kenyans are being lied to and being lulled into a false sense that all is well when the reverse is the case.

“It is very dangerous when a government embarks on perpetuating itself in power through lies. That is how dictatorships are created. The leaders invent some lies, which everyone is harassed to believe and anyone else who differs is declared an enemy and is hunted and hounded out. We see that potential in Jubilee and we want to nip it in the bud,” the senator said.

Yesterday, Mr Odinga’s spokesman Mr Dennis Onyango confirmed that the party has done a “thorough and expert analysis” of Jubilee performance in key sectors and will table its findings.

“The conclusion is that just as its campaign for election last year, Jubilee is still in the mode of plain lies and disinformation as a way of keeping Kenyans endowed to them. The party thinks it is a dangerous trend that must be stopped by being exposed,” Mr Onyango said.

He confirmed that the analysis will be presented either on Tuesday or Wednesday when the party will also address the issue of the country’s declining international standing.
“The acting party leader is keen that the findings be shared with the public and that Kenyans should be made aware that their standing among nations is being severely undermined by Jubilee’s policies and there is an economic price to pay for that,” he said.

Part of the report seen by the Sunday Nation said Jubilee is claiming credit for a number of programmes that were not in its manifesto but are easy to hijack from the grand coalition government, which had initiated them.

It said that because the governing coalition is desperate to be seen to be performing, Jubilee has rushed certain projects without feasibility studies that would show real cost, viability, sustainability, environmental impact and even necessity.

Such projects exist in agriculture, energy, security and education sectors, according to ODM.A huge chunk of the programmes, ODM said Jubilee has gone quiet on because they are not deliverable in one year as was promised, are also in these sectors

Where some implementation is going on, the costs are listed as way above international market rates and do not make economic sense.

Apart from agriculture where Jubilee has hijacked grand coalition programmes, abandoned its promises or pursued them at astronomical costs, ODM said it is in energy sector where “failure and campaign of lies is probably greatest.” ODM said failure in this sector spells doom for the country’s growth plan because energy is expected to drive change.

ODM claimed prospects for this sector have dwindled as cost of connections especially in rural areas have more than doubled.

The party said the government is quoting a lower figure as the cost of connection while the reality on the ground is different.

The party’s report said there is a standoff and there have been no connections for past one year and none of the energy in sector institutions has had even a CEO in the last one year.Some of the energy projects started under grand coalition government are being executed at extremely high cost above international benchmark prices, according to the ODM report. A number of dams that Jubilee promised in one year are yet to be started, the report said, listing about 10.